Another Day in Paradise
by Empress Akitla
Summary: He glanced down at his copilot. Danny Williams was one of the last people he expected to get saddled with. Pacific Rim AU. One shot.


**Hawaii Five-0 belongs to CBS, Lenkov, Freeman, and whoever else is in on that. Pacific Rim is Guillermo del Toro's baby and I think Warner Bros. had a say, too.**

 **Cover art belongs to me.**

 **For Five-0 fans not really familiar with Pacific Rim, the basic gist is that enormous creatures invade via a rift at the bottom of the Mariana Trench and humans do what they do best: freak out and build giant robots to fight them. This one shot takes place under the assumption that the characters from Five-0 existed in this universe from the get go. Mostly contains bantering.**

 **Shout out to Phoebe Miller for beta reading this, too!**

 **Enjoy.**

* * *

 **Another Day in Paradise**

At 0500 hours the sensors at the Breach were triggered. It was determined to be a Category III Kaiju. It was designated Snapper by K-Watch and its trajectory was estimated to swing by Hawaii on its way up towards the western coast of the United States, thus why they were being deployed.

Up before his partner, he was already heading toward the Drivesuit Room with a pensive look etched deeply on his face.

Choi had said that this one appeared to be multilimbed and hard shelled. That fact alone triggered unwanted memories of his last partner. Barely a year prior, a mission to take out a Category III Kaiju designated Belfast had led to his copilot, his father, being killed when the beast slammed their Jaeger's helm with a heavily armored claw. The only reason he was still alive was because _Gipsy Danger_ had been deployed shortly after them and finished Belfast off before it could finish him.

Steve scrubbed a hand through his hair. He didn't need this right now. With a calming breath, he pushed the horrific memory from his mind. This wasn't the time or the place to mull it over. He'd get an earful if he brought it into the Drift.

"McGarrett."

He turned and straightened up. Marshal Stacker Pentecost eyed him wearily.

"I should warn you to not pull any of that lunacy you did during the last mission," Pentecost said.

"With all due respect, Sir, we got the job done," Steve replied evenly.

"I did say 'should', but as you said, you got the job done," Pentecost said. He leaned in closer. "But if you ever use another civilian vessel as bait, I am going to have your head on my desk. Are we clear?"

Steve gritted his teeth briefly. "Yes, Sir."

"Good. I don't like the way the Beckets speak so highly of you and your ill-advised methods of dealing with Kaiju," Pentecost said, putting emphasis on the implication that he was a bad influence on the younger Rangers.

Steve watched him walk off in the direction of the LOCCENT. Though he wouldn't admit it aloud, that last mission had gone off the rails and the plan he concocted on the fly had been even more dangerous than Pentecost had made it sound. He was honestly surprised that he hadn't been given a swift kick in the pants out of the Jaeger program.

"The Marshal just tore you a new one, huh, buddy?"

He glanced down at his copilot. Danny Williams was one of the last people he expected to get saddled with.

"I don't think he appreciated our reckless behavior," Steve said as he resumed the walk to the Drivesuit Room.

Danny's hand danced between the two of them. "Our reckless behavior? That was all you, babe. I was right there inside your head when that stupid plan hatched."

Steve grunted.

After the death of his father, he had gone through several applicants in search of another partner he would be able to Drift with. It had been a grueling process. Emotionally closed off and carrying the baggage of his career as a Navy SEAL and then what he'd been through as a Jaeger jock, it had been downright impossible to find a compatible copilot.

The other issue was acquiring another Jaeger. The Jaeger he piloted with his father, _Mercury Defender_ , was rendered inoperable and parted out after the battle with Belfast. He was without a familiar Jaeger, without a partner, and almost out of luck. Being out there was what he was built for. Protecting people. Fighting monsters. Sitting idle while _Gipsy Danger_ , _Pharaoh's Reign_ , and even _Cherno Alpha_ were still operating almost killed him quicker than any Kaiju could.

Then along came an angry man with his own Jaeger.

"Yeah?" Steve smirked at him. "I could hear the list of reasons you went through in two seconds flat of why it was a dumb plan."

"And yet, what did we do? We went out there, used a poor, unfortunate freighter as bait, which might I remind you still had people on it, and proceeded to almost get ourselves and the spotter helicopters killed," Danny rehashed, his hands flying around as he did.

"It worked, didn't it?" he shrugged.

"You, my friend, need help mentally. Your head is a scary place."

Which was why Steve didn't understand how he was able to Drift with Danny. They did not have the same life experiences, the same training, the same thinking patterns, they couldn't even agree on eating the same food. Yet, somehow, someway, they were nearly perfectly Drift compatible.

Danny had ranted and raved that he couldn't be partnered with him and then complained when the J-Chief and Marshal both had enough and stuck them together anyway. Steve was ready to throttle him. He didn't get it. Why did the only guy he could Drift with have to be this guy? Apparently, Danny was as frustrated by it as he was.

"You know, we could've just given that schmuck a McGarrett Special and been done with it," Danny said as the techs assisted them with the black circuitry suits.

Steve frowned as a tech snapped the magnetic connectors on a section of back armor into place and fastened it tight. "A what?"

"That ninja move where you twist someone's arm behind their back and almost dislocate their shoulder," Danny explained.

"I recall that the last time I did that, I wound up getting socked in the jaw," he met his partner's grin with one of his own.

The fight had been initiated by him as a brief display of power and a venting of frustration. He was tired of all the talking and the ranting about proper procedure and wanted to let him know that he wasn't a fan of the arrangement either, but he would suffer through it so long as he could get back out in the field. To his surprise, once he let go Danny had rolled his shoulder, stood up slowly, and then popped him so hard in the jaw he saw stars.

That was the crowning moment. That was when he knew why they could Drift. That was when he accepted it. Danny was his new copilot. His new partner. His new best friend.

"Well, this time we could've twisted his arm off," Danny said. He flexed in the fully armored Drivesuit once the spinal clamp was attached and followed Steve out of the room toward the Conn-Pod. "Unfortunately, that would've left a mess of Kaiju Blue all over the bay and then all those people would've had to evacuate even farther inland."

"That's why we used the wrist mounted blades," Steve said.

"As a last resort. Those should've been the first things we used, you Neanderthal. I don't know why we had to wrestle it first, what did that accomplish?" Danny waved a hand at him as they clambered into the Conn-Pod where more techs hooked them up to the various high tech machinery around them. "I mean, I know it gave Chin and Kono time to fish one of the helicopters out of the water, but what kind of plan of attack was that?"

"You were onboard with it," Steve objected.

"I've been Drifting with you too long. First you hijacked my Jaeger and now you've hijacked my thoughts," Danny dramatically sighed.

" _You boys about ready in there?"_

Steve nodded and activated the hand control in his right hand while Danny followed suit with the left hand control. "Yeah, we're good, Choi."

" _Initiating drop."_

The Conn-Pod shuddered as the magnetic clamps released and it slid down the guide rails to the rest of the Jaeger below.

"What're we looking at, Choi? Please don't tell me it's another crab or bug," Danny asked.

There was a huff of laughter over the comms. " _You're safe there, Danny. Snapper appears to be multilimbed with a hard shell like a turtle. Looks like it's more compact than Konchuu was."_

"The next time I see insect mouth parts in high definition on the HUD again, it'll be too soon," Danny grumbled.

Steve shook his head with a smirk. "Are Chin and Kono already out there?"

" _Confirmed._ Pele's Fire _was deployed twenty minutes ago."_

"Wait. If they're already out there, why are we going out there, too?" Danny asked.

" _You're the backup."_

"Of course we're the backup."

The Conn-Pod touched down on the shoulders of the Jaeger. It swiveled into the connection site and locked into it with a hiss. The HUD lit up before them, showing preliminary displays of the environment, information from the LOCCENT, and the power levels of their Mark 3 Jaeger.

" _Initiating neural handshake."_

Steve closed his eyes at the familiar sensation of another voice present within his own mind. Images from his childhood flashed before his eyes. His sister, his mom, their house east of Diamond Head. His mom's death and his subsequent enrollment in the Navy, his days as a SEAL where the word 'classified' no longer mattered, his joining the Ranger program. His father's death.

A comforting feeling washed over him. Danny. He was there watching it all go by. Right now, he was the anchor that kept him from chasing the RABIT down the hole.

Through the connection he could see Danny's life growing up in New Jersey with a large family, his brother and two sisters and aunts and uncles and cousins and grandparents. He could see him playing baseball in high school, fighting bullies behind the bleachers, graduating and becoming a cop before the Breach opened up. He could see him reeling in horror at the monsters invading, felt the determination as he enrolled in the Ranger program, experienced the pain of his divorce as a result of that action. There was a certain morbid kinship as he watched Danny's partner Grace Tilwell die in a Kaiju attack that almost killed him, too.

They looked across the Conn-Pod at each other, needing to say no words.

" _The handshake is holding strong and steady. Drift is in full swing."_

The massive doors to the Shatterdome parted to let a stream of Hawaiian sunlight in. The platform beneath their Jaeger deposited them into the crystal clear waters surrounding the island and as a synchronized unit, they began to power their monster of a machine out into the ocean.

Steve flipped a switch on the control panel between them. " _Black Beauty_ is headed your way, _Pele's Fire_."

The comm erupted in a flurry of heavy breathing. " _About time, brah. What's taking you guys so long?"_

"Danny had to fix his hair," Steve said.

The mental bird he received was enough to make him snort. The funny thing he had learned about Danny was that when they were synced up with each other and piloting the Jaeger, he couldn't physically use his hands, but that didn't stop him from using them mentally. Occasionally it was distracting seeing flits of movement in his head, but he'd grown used to it.

" _Whatever. Just get out here wikiwiki. You're not going to believe this."_

Kono's tone gave them the same thought. It was a kind of an 'uh oh' and a 'now I'm curious' thought.

"Ready, partner?" Steve asked.

"Do you have to even ask, you putz?"

With a wild grin that spread equally across their faces, they charged headlong into the Pacific Ocean to provide back up to the other half of their team. The four of them together with their two Jaegers were formidable. They'd become known as the protectors of Hawaii. Policing the waters and defending the people, they were Hawaii's finest. They were a team. An ohana.

They were Hawaii Five-0.

* * *

 **It was bound to happen at some point. I love this movie and I love Five-0. Plus, Hawaii is in the middle of the Pacific and has significance in Pacific Rim lore. How could I not? It's going to remain a one shot. For now. Mwahahaha...**

 **Thanks for reading!**

 **And here's some vocab for those of you that were unsure of certain terms:**

 **Jaeger - (German) Hunter**

 **Kaiju - (Japanese) Strange creature, monster**

 **Breach - A rift at Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench that connects our world to the Anteverse where the Kaiju come from**

 **Category III - Kaiju are given categories based on size, toxicity, and ambient radiation, with I and II being weaker and III being considerably stronger and smarter**

 **K-Watch - Kaiju scientists that are in charge of monitoring the Breach and naming the Kaiju based on water displacement and radiation**

 **Drivesuit - The circuitry suit and body armor that allows pilots to connect and interface with their Jaeger and feel what it feels, decreasing lag in reaction time to almost zero**

 **LOCCENT - Local Command Center, the communication hub that monitors Kaiju activity and is responsible for the deployment of the Jaegers**

 **J-Chief - Jaeger Chief, oversees the deployment of Jaegers and monitors Drifting along with Kaiju movements during battle**

 **Kaiju Blue - Kaiju blood is phosphorescent blue, extremely toxic, and contaminates the environment around it, staining everything. It sends humans into shock if it is inhaled as it evaporates into 'bloodmist'**

 **Conn-Pod - Also called a cockpit, it is the Jaeger's head and is often kept separated from the Jaeger to prevent its sensitive technology from frying**

 **HUD - Heads Up Display, shows an immediate layout of the environment among other relevant information**

 **Mark 3 - Jaegers are given Marks depending on when they were built and the level of their tech. Mark 1-3 Jaegers run on nuclear reactors which is why the Conn-Pods are kept separate until deployment**

 **Drift - A melding of the minds where the pilots share memories, instincts, and emotions in a neural bridge. This allows them to control their Jaeger safely as the physical and mental load is too much for a single pilot**

 **RABIT - Random Access Brain Impulse Trigger, an occurrence where a pilot latches onto a memory while Drifting and can result in the pilots falling out of alignment or unintentionally causing the Jaeger to perform unwanted actions**


End file.
